


the preface to our universe

by aluegoine



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, High School Students NCT Dream, M/M, Soulmates, and they don't come back down, idk if there's a continuation haven't thought abt it yet, idk why the ending is like that, kun dh and mark are barely mentioned, lapslock, someone please tell me how to tag, things really just go from 1 to 100 real fast, unedited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:09:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23024560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aluegoine/pseuds/aluegoine
Summary: you know that little voice in your head? that's your soulmate.or,,,a stupid renjun-centric soulmate au where the boys can hear their soulmates and it's really just rj being a big dumb the whole way through someone save him from himself please
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Zhong Chen Le, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	the preface to our universe

**Author's Note:**

> hi so this is kinda old but i know i'm never going to properly edit it and give it the love and care it deserves so i'll just spit it out and deal with the consequences later
> 
> originally this was part of a three part series but legit dude i don't even remember what the other two were about so even though i refer to this as part one,,,,, i do mean one and Only

renjun woke up on the morning of his seventeenth birthday feeling different. his alarm clock still stated the stoic numbers 9:30 as usual, and his brother was still no kinder as he yelled at renjun to get his ass downstairs for breakfast. even his breakfast itself was ordinary-- fried eggs and rice, the only thing that his aloof older brother knew how to cook.

"eat your food, renjun. what the hell are you even thinking about, with those negative two brain cells of yours?" sicheng commented, remaining indifferent as his younger brother huffed at him. it was like renjun had somehow taken all of the compassion from his parentage and concentrated it, leaving sicheng to be soulless and cold-hearted.

"let up, i'm trying to hear my soulmate." renjun's eyebrows furrowed as he thought to himself silently.

sicheng barely even lifted his eyebrow, looking at renjun with lidded eyes. "oh, you finally started hearing your soulmate. congrats, i guess."

renjun huffed again. "what is that supposed to mean? you're lucky that you're an extremely late bloomer, because if your soulmate met you like this they probably wouldn't want you anyways."

sicheng offered him a shrug and turned away to take a phone call. renjun scoffed at the way that his brother's tone immediately lifted upon realizing that the caller was their family friend, kun.

he shrugged on his bag and went out the front door, leaving his food untouched on the kitchen counter. it was rare that he ate his brother's disgusting food anyways, so it wasn't that big of a deal. he could just steal some food off of his chemistry partner, donghyuck, later.

as he approached the school, he noticed an extremely familiar puff of strawberry-blonde bleached hair poking up from behind a bush. he approached around the bush, smile creeping onto his face.

"what are you doing there?"

chenle startled so violently that he nearly dropped the extremely expensive-looking camera that he held in his hands. once he realized who had found him, he pulled the older down, silencing him with a hush. "don't blow my cover, you dimwit. i'm trying to get pictures of some second-year girl for ningning."

renjun laughed. "you do know that you're very obvious, right?"

"obviously." chenle muttered, adjusting the camera lens. "i have to get caught being a creepy stalker for ningning to come in and swoop her away."

"i can't believe you would throw away your reputation for this."

chenle glared at him, letting his attention stray from the camera for a second. "ge, we're not talking about my rep again."

"alright, alright." renjun agreed too quickly, shrugging. he startled suddenly, frantically tapping on chenle's shoulder. "lele, i have something really important to tell you!"

the younger shrugged him off, too focused on his camera. "can't it wait?"

it took a split second for a scream to be echoing throughout the school courtyard. the girl who chenle had been watching had finally noticed them.

"hell, that was quick." renjun muttered, standing up with chenle as they were exposed to the small crowd of inspectors who had gathered at the loud noise.

as if it was planned, chenle immediately handed him the camera and stepped away, cowering. "he made me do it! he threatened me to take pictures for him because i'm in the photography club!"

renjun gaped silently, finally realizing the younger's true intention. he let the camera be whisked from his hand as the crowd immediately gasped, rushing to defend chenle as renjun was accused of being a pervert, a stalker, and a bully. renjun glowered, silently glaring daggers at chenle, which obviously did not help his case at all, because it merely prompted one of the students to shout about him threatening the young boy.

chenle winked at him, still behind the protective stances of at least ten other students. he slowly slipped out from behind them and hid behind a pillar at the entrance. renjun watched the pillar closely, eyes narrowing as three pale fingers appeared around the pillar's edge, counting down from three. as the last and final finger disappeared, the bell rang, and all of the students immediately rushed into the school building, leaving renjun there alone.

his friend's head poked out from behind the pillar, grinning. he skipped over to renjun, two slips of paper in his hand. "here you go!"

renjun grasped one of the slips, a small smile cracking onto his face. "how the hell did you get our teacher to give us passes to skip first period?"

chenle grinned. "i told him that your brother was starting to attend fancier therapy for his depression and we had to transport him out to the main city because your parents aren't in town and i have driver or two."

"oh please." renjun snorted. "sicheng wasn't even depressed, and he stopped attending therapy after the first session. i wonder how long it will take for mr. yoo to realize that sicheng is just really impassive."

"he'll never figure it out, he's dumb." chenle laughed, motioning for renjun to follow him as he skipped his way out of the school grounds. 

they approached an ice cream store, opting to sit outside instead of actually buying food. regardless, both of them were way past broke and didn't bother to carry around any money. (this was a total lie. their families were both multi-billionaires, and their school tuition alone cost more than most people's houses. but did they care? no.)

"oh, what was that thing you were going to tell me?" chenle asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

renjun visibly lit up, tapping on the table in excitement. "lele, i finally started hearing my soulmate!"

"that's amazing!" his friend grinned widely, giving him a harsh pat on the back. "any idea who it is yet?"

he shook his head. "no idea. there's seven billion people in the world, lele! it could be anyone."

"i can travel the world, gege! i'll help you in any way i can." chenle pouted, placing a fist on the table. "i am the school's main matchmaker, after all."

"cute." renjun chuckled, ruffling the younger's hair. 

he smiled to himself as he wondered who his forever true love might be. renjun had always anticipated the idea of having a soulmate. he vowed to himself to be faithful and grateful towards his soulmate forever, because they would be his one true love. the idea made him giggle.

chenle snorted. "don't start acting weird just because you can hear your soulmate now. i hope i won't be like you when i start hearing mine."

"when is yours?" renjun asks, curious. his own family usually started hearing their soulmates at seventeen or eighteen, making him right on time, but for many it was much earlier or much later. kun's family, for example, started hearing their soulmates at fifty-five, so he had given up on trying to find them.

"seventeen, eighteen. i should start hearing them next year, but my mother keeps telling me i'll be early."

renjun laughed. "if you get yours this year, we can look for our soulmates together."

chenle giggled, making renjun reach forward and ruffle his hair again.

"i hope our soulmates are best friends too, so we can stay together forever."

...

it was second period. the worst period of the day, if you asked anyone but renjun. he was the only student that his harsh, strict, design teacher actually liked, and he was glad for it.

"renjun!"

the boy perked up at the sound of his name, eyes traveling from the trees outside the window to the front of the classroom. his design teacher met him with a stern glare, lifting the chalk in his hand to point haphazardly at a brown-haired boy across the room. "you will be paired with him for this project."

renjun beamed at his teacher, nodding vigorously as the brown-haired boy silently shuffled over to the empty seat by renjun's. renjun had been fortunate enough to not be assigned a seatmate, as he was an early transferee and the class was an odd number.

"hey." the boy said, offering a small wave. "i'm jaemin."

"cool."

a pause.

jaemin smirked. "are you not going to tell me your name, teacher's pet?"

renjun scoffed. "that's the point— all of you know my name because it's the only one that's ever called out in class."

"i don't get how he likes you so much." jaemin shook his head. "we used to think that it was because you gave him blowjobs after class in exchange for good grades."

renjun recoiled in horror, making a disgusted face. "i think he likes me because i'm the only person who gets good grades."

jaemin laughed again. "could be. or maybe it's because of your brother."

"sicheng?" renjun scrunched his nose. "why would anyone like sicheng in the first place?"

"maybe because he was also the only person to get good grades." jaemin shrugged. "my brother was in the same class as him and used to talk about how he spent the entirety of class sleeping with his eyes open but he still passed at the top of the class."

"typical sicheng. i actually have to put in effort to get the grades i do, damn it."

"and i always put in my best effort but still get low grades." jaemin scoffed. "just face it, renjun, intelligence is genetic."

renjun's eyes narrowed, his gaze immediately shifting over to jaemin. "oh, we are not about to have this conversation. the last time i had this debate it lasted a week and a half."

jaemin smirked. "try me."

they were interrupted by their teacher. "alright class, you are dismissed for today."

as they all rushed towards the door, jaemin caught renjun by his arm. the shorter of the two turned around, his bangs whipping into his eyes. "what?"

"here's my number." jaemin scribbled something on renjun's arm. "see you later, princess."

renjun pretended to ignore jaemin's wink. the pink pen on his arm smudged slightly as chenle came up and linked arms with him, dragging him off.

"hey ge, why are you so starry-eyed?"

renjun blinked, shaking his head so that his bangs fell into his eyes. "nothing, let's go."

"alright! we made it on time." chenle shouted, pumping his fist into the air as they arrive at the stadium.

renjun looked up at the rows and rows of stairs. "yeah, but most of the seats have been filled."

chenle grinned, winking. "don't worry, i have it covered."

he rushed off to an empty row of seats near the game. renjun followed quickly, sprinting a little to keep up with his quick-footed friend.

as they were getting settled, chenle froze suddenly. renjun frowned at him. "what's up?"

"kun wanted us to broadcast, remember? besides, it's not everyday that our team makes it to the finals."

"that's mean."

"and your point is?"

renjun huffed, crossing his arms. he leaned back to let chenle reach past him to grab his phone, and they started to livestream.

"alright, viewers, this is it. the game's starting!"

midway through the game, a force bumped into renjun's side. he looked to his left to see his classmate and friend, lee jeno. "oh, hey there."

"hey there?" jeno flashed renjun his signature eye smile. "that's all i can get from you now?"

"good evening, great master jeno." renjun mocked, grinning.

"good evening, my dear wife."

renjun chuckled, too used to the joke to bother refuting it. it used to be widely accepted among the soccer team to call renjun their wife due to his frail build, even after renjun quit the team in second year, but after a while jeno was the only person continuing the joke. rumour stated that jeno threatened and beat up his other team members, claiming that renjun could only have one husband, but that was probably one of the fangirls' decorated fantasies. probably.

"are you here to watch mark play?"

"no, i'm here to watch the female cheerleaders." renjun retorted. jeno gave him the 'we all know you're gay look', and before he could open his mouth to complain about the sarcasm renjun cut in. "yes, obviously i'm here to watch mark play."

"and to live stream it, apparently." jeno adds, pointing to the phone in his hand. renjun and chenle had been alternating between filming and posting the live play-by-play on twitter.

renjun sighed lightly. "well, kun wants to see sicheng, and donghyuck's out so we're doing the play-by-play for him because his wifi's too bad to support lives."

jeno tilted his head. "where is donghyuck right now, anyway?"

"in italy." renjun grimaced. "and it's really putting a dent in my stomach."

"sicheng's food can't be that bad." jeno mumbled, looking back and the game.

the air became colder.

"what?"

jeno sighed, looking over at renjun. "you-- oh."

renjun held a very convenient plastic butter knife in his hand. jeno was completely sure that he could find some way to draw blood with even a piece of blunt plastic, so he shivered. somehow, despite being the shorter of the two, renjun was towering over jeno, glaring daggers into his soul. jeno gulped.

"u-um, i meant--"

"aw please, don't tell me that actually works on you?" renjun was pulled back by a soft pale hand. chenle's head poked up from behind his shoulder, his now black fringe falling into his eyes as he smiled. "don't worry, my gege's a big softie."

renjun huffed, tucking the knife away and crossing his arms. "lele, you're not supposed to tell people that."

"and you're not supposed to threaten people, but look where we are." chenle deadpanned.

jeno chuckled at the two, focusing back on the game.

"alright! that's another loss for dream academy's football team, folks!" chenle yelled into the phone. "better luck next time!"

renjun turned to jeno as people started to file out of the stadium. "another expected loss, from the school with the worst sports teams to ever exist. it's a miracle that we don't come in dead last for every sport."

"what about the soccer team?" jeno retorted, looking offended. renjun scoffed.

"you're not even on the soccer team anymore, you dropped it for lacrosse."

jeno sighed, frowning. "and we haven't won anything either."

"neither has water polo." renjun leaned back into his seat. "our school should really just stick to academics."

chenle suddenly appeared behind them, sticking his head between them to speak. "nope, the school's equestrian team has won every single competition for the past two years."

"stop bragging, we all know you're a fantastic rider." jeno chuckled, ruffling the younger boy's hair.

renjun looked at chenle in surprise. "you're on the equestrian team?"

chenle pouted. "ge, i've been the captain since last year."

"cute." renjun cooed, pinching the younger's cheek. he stood. "alright, we're going to head off now. see you, jeno!"

jeno waved at them as renjun and chenle escaped the half empty stadium. once they were gone, he sighed to himself, looking down at the playing field. some of the other team's players were still hanging out and rejoicing. he sighed once more, making his leave.

...

"renjun! you came!"

he smiled at jeno, accepting the handshake that his classmate offers him across the bleachers. "i wanted to see what was up with lacrosse now that our season is over."

jeno laughed. "honestly why did you join water polo? we all thought you quit soccer because you were feeling insecure about your body, but then you joined a sport that requires you to strip on a daily basis."

"oh please," renjun snorted. "i joined water polo because the captain is insanely hot. plus, seeing those abs every practice? totally worth it."

jeno chuckled, shaking his head. "of course that's why. then why did you leave soccer? were we not hot enough for you?"

renjun laughed, leaning down to slap at jeno's arm lightly. "i actually played soccer growing up, you know."

"i know," jeno sighed. "if you had stayed in the team we could have won for the first time in years, but then you left so everyone's spirits started dropping."

"oh, so i was the mascot?" renjun teased, and jeno started whining in protest. suddenly, renjun had a thought. "have you started hearing your soulmate yet?"

"not yet. have you?"

renjun nodded. "i know they're a male, but i can't tell exactly who they are."

"well, maybe you can try looking at the people around you. i know most people think that soulmate is going to be some random person on the other side of the earth, but they could be closer than you think." jeno commented, looking up at him earnestly.

he smiled. "thanks, i'll keep that in mind."

for some reason, jeno's words stuck with him throughout the entire match. what if it was mark? or kun? someone who he had known for years. or was it jeno himself?

he started thinking of phrases and words that he had heard jeno say before. to him, the voice sounded exactly the same as they had in that moment. renjun frowned to himself.

his attention was brought back to the field with a whoop from jeno after he scored, and the voice again imitated him. renjun turned to chenle, who had been sitting behind him, watching the match.

"lele, do you think my soulmate could be jeno?"

chenle peered down. "maybe. they say that you tend to have a strong emotional pull to your soulmate too, so if you're not too sure about the voice just go off of that."

renjun nodded, a smile breaking out onto his face. he reached up to pinch chenle's cheek. "thanks, you always know what to say."

...

"hey," renjun smiled, accepting jaemin's hug. "did i make you wait?"

"no, not at all. take a seat." the boy gestured to the seat across from himself.

renjun seated himself, placing his bag on the table and turning to jaemin with a lazy smirk. "so, what are we here to discuss?"

jaemin blinked. "our project?"

"exactly." renjun's face grew dark. "what are we supposed to choose as the topic of our project?"

"well, i came up with an idea..." jaemin sighed. "it's not very good, though."

renjun smiled. "just shoot. besides, it can't be that bad?"

"we could dress up as pineapples and edit in dogs?"

"what the actual fuck, minnie."

jaemin blushed, scratching the back of his head. "i tried."

renjun sighed. "it's fine. honestly, the project itself is kind of weird. explain it to me."

"well, apparently dogs are the key to everyone's soul-- that's what my brother's boyfriend said, but we don't really trust him in our household-- and pineapples are just that perfect fruit, right? something about it makes you just want to laugh at it."

renjun nodded along as jaemin talked, slowly gathering together the information that was spewing out of the boy's mouth and organizing it. they would probably struggle with the equipment-- although he was sure that chenle had what they needed lying around. he shuddered as he remembered the one time he wandered too far into the mansion and found a basement filled to the door with thirty year old jelly cups. through some strange conduct of his subconscious, he found the voice in his mind reading along with jaemin's words. a small smile crept onto his face as he thought about his soulmate. in his opinion, jaemin and jeno's voices sounded quite nice together, although similar. a little too similar.

he gasped silently in recognition. jaemin and the voice in his head sounded exactly the same.

"and we could fill the boat with balloons-- renjun, are you listening?"

renjun lifted his head from his hand, looking at the boy, who looked confused. "what's wrong?"

"nothing," he rushed to grab his bags and stand from the chair. "i have to go."

he walked out of the shop as quickly as he could without disturbing the other customers, and made it a good long way down the street before a hand grabbed his arm, spinning him around.

"where the hell do you think you're going?" jaemin's eyebrows were set firmly, hand still gripped tightly on renjun's wrist.

"i don't know."

"and what does that mean?"

whether renjun looked down at the cement, or left towards the bustling traffic, he wasn't sure. he was just trying to rid himself of jaemin's piercing eyes, knowing that the boy wouldn't stop until he had answers.

"i realized that--" renjun's mind searched for the most believable excuse. "chenle asked me to do something for him today. it's really important."

jaemin's eyes narrowed, and renjun could tell that the boy didn't believe him in the slightest, but he released renjun's arm and let him back away slightly.

"just go. we'll talk later." jaemin looked away, running a hand through his hair. "god, you're driving me crazy."

renjun took out his phone, opening the messaging app. he flipped to his private messages before choosing the favourited one.

[ baby lele <3 ]

to: chenle!!!big news  
from: what happened  
to: you know how i was meeting with jaemin for our project today right  
from: k  
to: and i heard his voice! in my head! he's my soulmate!!!!!!  
from:what abt jeno?  
to: I THINK I HAVE TWO SOULMATES  
to: lele? chenle?  
to: CHENLE  
to: why are you not replying?  
from: listen renjun i have to go i'm busy  
baby lele <3 is offline.

he shook his head, straightening his backpack and continuing to his home. he could think about it later.

...

renjun entered the school grimly, bag secured on both of his shoulders as he lowered his gaze and darted through the sea of students occupying the hall. his objective was to make it through the day without having to talk to both jaemin and jeno. thankfully, he didn't have design that day, and he never had a class with jeno in the first place, so it wouldn't be that difficult to just avoid him.

just as he escaped the sea and breathed a heavy sigh of relief, a large and heavy weight barreled into him from the back, sending him tumbling. he got back onto his feet quickly, taking a moment to survey the tall, large student who was in front of him. the boy had two fox ears attached atop of his messy flop of dyed auburn hair, and he had circular glasses perched on his nose. renjun wondered briefly if he was a furry.

"sorry, i should watch where i'm going--" the boy scrambled to pick up his many books. renjun immediately knelt by him, helping pick up the books. with a quick glance across the titles of the books renjun could determine that the boy was likely in the year below him.

the boy stood, organizing the books in his hands. renjun handed the books to the boy, who flinched so hard that renjun thought he was having a seizure for a moment. the boy turned to go, bowing and apologizing.

renjun stopped him by the arm, making the boy flinch and turn around.

"what's your name?" renjun asked. the boy answered timidly.

"jisung."

"i'm renjun. if you need any help, i usually sit by the vending machines during lunch." he said with a smile, which seemed to reassure the boy as he blushed, thanked renjun, and ran off.

his first class of the day was chinese, which was a huge relief. it was by far the easiest class he had ever taken. coincidentally, it was his only class with chenle. the younger boy rushed into the class two minutes late, panting slightly and hair messy. he apologized to the teacher quickly and went to sit in his assigned seat across from renjun.

"lele." he tried to whisper, but quickly stopped trying to get chenle's attention after the teacher started looking his way.

whatever, he was probably just tired.

at lunch, he caught sight of the fox-eared boy again, but this time with the fox ears removed. renjun frowned as he saw the boy walk up to join chenle, and the two of them go off to join the footballers at their usual table.

"hey there, wifey. sit with us today." jeno glided by like a gust of wind, pulling renjun towards the soccer team's usual table before he can even think to protest.

the other boys welcomed him with loud whoops and cheers, making renjun smile. he had missed hanging out with them after all.

...

his days passed a little too quickly and smoothly for his taste. eventually he learned to talk to jaemin again, for the sake of their project, and he began researching the possibility of having two soulmates.

"do you think chenle's mad at me?" he asked jeno one night while studying at the later's house for exams.

he raised an eyebrow. "if he's not mad at you then what is he? how long has it been since you've seen each other or talked?"

"a week."

jeno made a show of fake fainting. "you two are practically attached at the hip! renjun, you even told me that when you're not hanging out or going out of your way you still end up meeting each other at restaurants and stuff! and you haven't seen each other in a week? he's mad avoiding you."

"he's..." renjun's eyebrow knitted. "avoiding me?"

the sigh that jeno let out made the table shake with the pure weight of his disappointment. "fine, fine. believe what you want to believe. the truth will reveal itself eventually."

another few days later, he spotted chenle across the canteen, sitting with that jisung kid again. renjun leaned over to jaemin, who he was sitting with that day, talking with a low voice. "what do you know about that kid over there?"

jaemin looked over. "jisung? he's a cute kid. on the football team, mark loves him. says he's a brat, but loves him. why?"

"because," renjun chewed on his lunch sadly. "he stole my best friend."

"ey, maybe it's because they're soulmates."

this made renjun perk up. "soulmates?"

"yeah, something like that." jaemin flipped another page in the book that he was studying. "i think jisung was supposed to start hearing his soon or something."

renjun smiled. in that case, he didn't have to worry anymore. he had his own soulmate to think about, anyways.

everywhere he looked on the internet, there was no possibility of a person having two soulmates. there were no cases of that that had ever existed throughout history, either. even still, he was sure that he could hear both jaemin and jeno.

he soon found out that it was the calm before the storm.

"renjun, renjun!" jeno bounded up to him exitedly. "i started hearing my soulmate!"

renjun's heart dropped down to his shoes and bungeed all the way back up. he felt a flush start rising up his neck. "what? really?"

jeno nodded fervently. "yep. now we can find our soulmates together!"

"do you know who it is?" renjun asked hesitantly. jeno shook his head.

"it's definitely someone i've never talked to before. their voice is completely unfamiliar."

"oh." this was better, but renjun still wasn't sure what it meant. was his soulmate jaemin after all?

"hey renjun!"

his attention was captured by jaemin bounding over. jeno's eyes went wide as soon as jaemin began to speak, and he couldn't contain his excitement as he declared loudly. "it's you!"

jaemin stared wide eyed, before gasping. "oh my god, you're right."

jeno squealed, shaking renjun. "can you believe it? i met my soulmate through you. i really can't thank you enough, dear wife."

jaemin nodded. "looks like i owe you one, princess."

"are you calling someone who's not your soulmate princess?" jeno humphed. jaemin hit him lightly.

"and who was just calling him their dear wife? it looks like renjun is our child or something."

jeno laughed. "we need to make him the godfather."

renjun's mouth felt dry. he watched as the two interacted, looking truly like a pair of soulmates. though they had just met, their conversation and actions were natural and easy.

"i-- i have to go." renjun closed his locker, grabbing his bag and waving hastily. "you guys have fun!"

on the way out of school, he spotted someone who he didn't expect. chenle's form waved down the halls, quicker and less cheerful than usual. he was alone, without jisung shielding him, so renjun took the chance to go and talk to him.

"lele!"

chenle startled upon seeing renjun, and picked up his pace. renjun raced after him, grabbing his arm to stop him from going any further. his eyebrows knit as he looked up at chenle. "are you avoiding me?"

"i'm busy." chenle tried to shake him off, but renjun's grip stayed steady.

he didn't know what came over him, but the emotions from the past week were so overwhelming. renjun was tired, so tired of everything that had been going on.

"listen, i just want to talk. we can resolve whatever conflict this is so i can have my best friend back."

"that's the point! you're not my best friend!" chenle snapped at him.

renjun staggered back, releasing the grip on chenle's arm. "what is that supposed to mean?"

"you're my soulmate." his voice wavered.

when renjun didn't reply, the boy continued. "i started hearing you the day after the game. you kept saying that your soulmate was jeno, and i--"

he paused, swallowing a large breath. "i asked jisung to help me. his mother studies soulmates, and i wanted to find out what you were talking about when you said you heard two voices."

"we tried every theory but only one seemed to make any sense."

chenle's eyes fell to the ground again, his shoulders hunching in just slightly. he laughed in disbelief as he said it. "renjun, you're just stupid. you have a harder time differentiating voices-- which you always have, so that might be it."

renjun flamed back at him. he was too angry and confused to care. "why the hell did you not tell me? did i embarrass myself for nothing?"

"that's not it. i couldn't tell you--"

"do you think it was fun, struggling to find answers? without my best friend to help me? alone?"

chenle tried to explain himself, but renjun stopped him with a hand.

"you don't understand. even if you are my soulmate, i couldn't love you now."

maybe it was because of his own blurry vision but he didn't see the tears swelling in chenle's eyes, continuing to run himself to hell. "you were right, we aren't best friends.

"but we sure as hell aren't soulmates either."

...

his lungs were burning, chest heaving as he tried to keep up with breaths that weren't there. he collapsed onto the bedframe, gripping so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"renjun, is everything okay? you were loud coming in." sicheng's voiced floated throughout their house, coming closer to the open door of his bedroom. renjun gritted his teeth, glaring at the doorway where his brother had appeared.

"go away." his voice was shaking.

sicheng softened, something that renjun had never seen his stoic older brother do, and came in to sit next to renjun. he lifted renjun's hand off of the bedframe with surprising force, grasping it lightly.

"you're crying."

renjun coughed, free hand going up to wipe at the tears in his eyes and on his cheeks. "and you're terrible at comforting people."

sicheng smiled, resting an arm on renjun's shoulders, his head coming down to tap renjun's forehead lightly. "i'll be right here if you need me anyways."

something blurred renjun's vision and he choked back another sob. sicheng only tightened his arm around renjun, staying silent as his brother cried.

[part one ends.


End file.
